Reviews

I expect a lot of people who see this movie will have the wrong expectation of what it is, and what it's supposed to be, the result being that people won't like, or are just really confused by, this movie. I watched it without seeing any preview or knowing anything about it, and up until 3/4 of the way through I kept wondering when the paranormal / alien abduction action was going to start, and was annoyed at how slow the pace was. After I realized that this movie is NOT a thriller, or a dark comedy, or about paranormal anything, then my perception of the movie changed completely.

This is a tragic movie about a woman descending into severe mental illness with a complete disconnect from reality. I have not read anything about what the director/writer intended, but if this movie is considered anything else (thriller, etc.) then its a terrible movie. It may have a few lighthearted lines and amusing bits, but it is NOT a funny movie - its a depressing tragedy if you understand it.

The content about alien abductions is simply the subject of her mental illness. The reason the movie emphasizes it to the point that some viewers will expect something with aliens to actually happen is to show just how serious and real the main character considers these things to be. Overall, the reason the movie is so confusing and psychedelic is because that is the main character's new reality.

I had an old friend who I grew up with, who later in life lost their mind to mental illness, including hallucinations and disconnect from reality. I got to witness most of the events portrayed in this movie, of someone going completely "crazy", but I saw it from the outside (of their mind). This movie portrays the exact same thing, but from the perspective of the mentally ill person, and this is what was so brilliant.

Anyone who has ever seen someone loosing their mind knows that normal people are left continuously asking "Why on Earth would they do that? Why? What were they thinking?". After watching this movie, I now have a better understanding seeing it from the mad person's perspective.

Horse Girl: A brilliant tragedy about serious mental illness, seen from their own warped perspective.

Rogue One is a quintessential war movie, in sharp contrast to the dumbed-down Disney theme park ride that was 'The Force Awakens'. It has more in common with 'The Dirty Dozen' than the previous 4 Star Wars movies, which were much more light and kid oriented. It wasn't heavy or depressing, and it had many of the themes and action you would expect in a Star Wars movie, but it did have a noticeably different tone. TFA was exactly what you would expected from Disney, but RO really surprised me. The movie may have its flaws but it is at least one of the best 2 or 3 Star Wars movies made so far.

The flaws: The pacing started out way too fast, rushing past points and characters almost as fast as TFA did, but then slowed down to a crawl that required patience (for a Star Wars type movie) to stay interested. Some of the characters were simple and 2-dimensional, there were generous helpings of clichés, and some of the dramatic scenes came across as forced and unconvincing. Keeping in mind that this is Star Wars though, it should be more than what you would expect.

The strengths: The special effects were absolutely amazing and realistic looking. Furthermore, in sharp contrast (again) to TFA it was mostly completely original in terms of spaceships , characters and story. Seeing the familiar Star Wars elements in completely new settings was by itself worth the cost of the ticket. Despite the darker tone and less than feel good ending, it was still a fun movie to watch. You don't have to be a serious SW fan to like this movie, but if you are then there are tons of SW lore references. If you only like mindless, nonsensical happy-sappy ending movies then skip it, otherwise I highly recommend seeing this movie.

I just saw Suicide Squad last night, expecting it to be terrible, but loved it. In fact, all of my friends really liked it. In fact, I heard more than a few strangers leaving the theater talking about how it was not nearly as terrible as the reviews. The movie was certainly not perfect, and some critics did point out its real flaws, but if comic book cannon and plot holes don't flip you out then you can really enjoy watching it. Seriously, the perception you get from Rotten Tomatoes does not match reality at all.

I won't repeat what many other reviews here have already stated, but overall this is a really fun movie to see, despite the usual flaws. It is more adult, not because of any sex or violence, but because immature audiences wouldn't get the drama or ideas in the movie. I'm not saying it was great drama nor was it deep or complicated, just compared to other shallow cartoon-depth superhero movies. The action scenes were poorly filmed and not very fun, and while my 11 year old daughter loved it, I can easily see this going over the heads of most kids. The plot is not always clear, but that's not really the point or what you could be enjoying about the movie.

I am not a comic book reader and have zero concern for the whole Marvel versus DC arguments; I only watch movies for their value as entertaining films. I absolutely loved Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel) and thought BvS (DC) was a confusing mess of a story. However, there is a clear trend with who loves or hates which comic book movies, usually mapping to DC vs Marvel. People who like (and apparently need) the traditional concept of unrealistically-good heroes and unrealistically-evil villains will like Marvel movies. MoS, BvS, and Suicide Squad all touched on concepts from Watchmen – the very antithesis to the superhero concept. In Suicide Squad we are supposed to cheer for the exact same people that were portrayed as the evil villains in the first X-Men film: a government group whose purpose is to counter otherwise unstoppable superheroes. I'm not talking about who is a "good guy" or "bad guy", I'm talking about the concept of who watches the watchmen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quis_custodiet_ipsos_custodes). I thought Avengers Civil War was going to approach this topic, until the lame Iron Man-Spiderman drivel about extreme power *not* corrupting someone.

If you are a die-hard comic book reader who expects to see the typical hero defeating evil story then you will not like Suicide Squad. If you liked reading Watchmen (the book, NOT the movie) then you might like it. If you worship the concept of superheroes or liked any X-Men movie then you will hate this movie. If you are a Marvel devotee, then...why are you even reading this? Your mind was already made up long ago.

If you DO you like superhero movies, then you might really like this movie. I am, however, generally not a fan of the superhero concept and have been turned off by at least some aspects of many recent Marvel movies, but I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy. Aside from the superhero thing, I found the movie overall to be an entertaining and funny sci-fi action movie; nothing too spectacular but definitely enjoyable and worth the price of admission. I saw this reluctantly with my kids and being a Marvel movie, I expected that I would not like it. I've seen pretty much all recent superhero movies (for my kids) and I just don't get into antagonists who are too unrealistically pious and impossibly good, with absurdly evil protagonists. I also can't stand seeing characters who are essentially privileged, spoiled individuals who are also lucky enough to be vastly superior to the entire human race, and yet they still have petty issues to whine and brood about.

This movie was very different, as the characters were not only genuinely tragic (not billionaires or luckily endowed with powers), but also surprisingly ambiguous in their attitudes and moral choices. This superhero gang consists of: a thief, a couple of bounty hunters, an assassin, and a convict. With the exception of the main character, they all start off as potentially bad guys in the story. The overall feelings you get towards them is more of pity and rooting for their success, as opposed to the almost holy reverence you are expected to feel for the over-powerful X-Men and other assorted demigods in other Marvel movies. *SPOILER ALERT* Of course there is the standard clear moment when they make the decision to do the selfless and righteous thing to save the galaxy, as in all superhero movies, but overall this is a minor point in the entire movie.

As others have pointed out, this movie has a lot more comedy element than other Marvel movies, as well as a stronger sci-fi and alien setting. If you happen to like 70's music – did I mention the music? - then you will LOVE this. I wouldn't think many people under 50 (I'm under 45) would even get that at all, but I was floored at the inclusion of The Runaways "Cherry Bomb" in the movie. It's not Oscar material and definitely not beyond criticizing for various weaknesses. However, If you are expecting the typical superhero movie, this isn't quite that. More importantly, if you tend to not like the typical superhero movie, you might be pleasantly surprised by this one.